Railroad-switch mechanism



Sept. 14 1926.

.L. W. WILLIAMS RAILROAD SWITCH MECHANISM Filed May 15, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 2.

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Sept. 14 1926;

' L. W. WILLIAMS RAILROAD SWITCH MECHANISM v Filed May 15, 1926 a a -1--- a u.

2 L fi /l INVENTQQ L .W. WILLIAMS BY %/@m&h %Zf A S Patented Sept. 14, 1926.

UNITED STATES FATE LLEWELLYN \VYNN WILLIAMS, F DARLING-TON, ENG-LAND.

RAILROAD-SWITCH MECHANISM.

Application filed. May 15,

The invention relates to railroad switch mechanism of the kind in which the switch blades are resiliently supported upon antifriction bearings, so as to be normally lifted and very readily movable when operated but resting firmly upon rail bearing plates or chairs when depressed by a train passing thereover.

The main object of the invention is to provide improved means of this kind, the

manufacturing costs of which will be extremely small and which will possess great durability and safety of action when in use.

According to the invention two brackets,

one of which constitutes a resilient support for the attachment to the switch blade of a ball bearing or like roller while the other constitutes a runner-for said roller and is adapted for attachment to the running rail, are both formed of flat steel plate, which is cut out and bent in an ingenious manner as hereinafter described, so that when fitted up for use they serve to distribute the forces incident thereon in a most efficient manner. Moreover the construction enables them to be applied directly to rails of various different sizes, and owing to their firm seating and durability no further attention is necessitated beyond that ordinarily bestowed upon other parts of the permanent way.

The invention will be more readily understood from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate on a small scale the form of the brackets when blanked out of the sheet; Fig. 3 is an elevation of the device in use as applied to the flat-footed type of rail; Fig. 4 is an end view of the runner bracket shown in Fig. 3; Figs. 5 and 6 show to a' reduced scale slightly modified forms of brackets as blanked out, particularly for application to the bull-headed type of rail; Fig. 7 is an elevation showing brackets as shown in Fig. 6 in use; Fig. 8 is an end view of Fig. 7, and Fig. 9 is a cross section on line IXIX of Fig. 7.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4:, a pair of substantially J-shaped blanks 1 for runner brackets for flat-footed rails are cut from a flat steel plate 2 as indicated in Fig. 1. \Vhile hot the shorter arms 1 of the J-shaped members are bent at right angles along the dot-ted lines indicated in Fig. 1. The bearing brackets are similarly cut from flat steel plate to provide a T-shaped blank 1926. Serial N0. 109,371.

3 as shown in Fig. 2. The blank 3 is then bent at the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2, one arm 3 of the top of the T-member 3 being bent at right angles to provide a cantilever support for an antifriction roller, as hereinafter described, and the other arm 3" of the top of said member being bent in the same direction and doubled back, so that a side view of the member represents substantially the outline of the numeral 5 (c. f. Fig. The arms 1 of brackets 1 and the stem portion 3 of bracket 3 are drilled, and are then ready for direct application to the. rail and switch blade respectively.

This is effected as shown in Fig. 3. A

bolt at passes loosely through the web of the running); rail 6 and arm 1 of a bracket 1, a packing block 7 being interposed betweenthe flat face of said arm and the web, so that upon tightening bolt 4 the flat face of arm 1 forms a lateral bearing surface for rigidly securing the bracket laterally to the rail, while the bottom edge of arm 1 bears upon the top of the rail flange thus taking up the vertical force, as indicated by arrow 8.

The roller bearing bracket 3 is bolted to the movable switch blade 9 by means of a loosely fitting bolt 10, the arm 3 thereof engaging securely beneath said blade on tightening the bolt. The other arm 3 constitutes a cantilever through which passes slidably but nonrotatably a stud 11, forked at its lower end to carry the spindle of a roller 12 journalled on ball bearings. A heavy coil spring 18 is inserted between arm 3' and an adjusting nut 1% on said stud.

In operation the spring 113 causes the switch blade 9 to be normally lifted slightly so as to be clear of the usual slide chairs, the weight being transmitted as indicated by arrow 17, through bracket 3 and roller 12 to bracket 1, the upper edge of which forms a runner for said roller. The force required to move the points thus supported is only thirty per cent or less of that usually necessary in the case of ordinary sliding switch points even when clean and well oiled. Further one supply of grease to the ball bearings is suflicient lubrication for a period of several months, and as this may be quite internal, there is no danger of clogging by accumulation of grit and so forth. When a train passes over the points the resiliently supported blades 9 (oneresilient roller to each blade oi the pair of points) are depressed and rest liinly upon slide chairs in the usual manner, thus relieving the brackets 1, 3 of excess weight. The blade 9 shown is in its closed and depressed position, the

normal raised position being indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 8.

It is evident that the brackets may be applied directly to rails of different weight, for example, if the rail 6 represented in 3 is of standard 100 lbs. section, the bracket 1 can obviously be fitted directly to larger or smaller rails by merely exchanging the packing block 7 for one of suitable sine according to the size of the rail bottom flange. In all cases the lower edge of arm 1 bears firmly upon the rail flange, the plate being thereby utilized to take up the forces to the best advantage. The slight is extremely imresilience in bracket 0 portant as it serves to prevent fracture of said bracket if for any reason, such as un due wear or bad adjustment of nut 14, excessive pressure should come on to said bracket, which then acts as a cantilever spring.

In the slightly modified construction shown in Figs. 5 to 9, and in which corre' sponding parts are indicated by similar reference numerals, the brackets are shown applied to the bull-headed type of rail, in which case somewhat less plate is required to be cut out and bent in substantially same manner as above described. The arm l however is formed with an off-set tongue 15 which is adapted to bear upon the top of the bottom flange when applied to the rail 16 as shown in Fig. 7, remaining portions of said arm bearing laterally against the head and foot flanges of the rail, so that the runner bracket is firmly held in an equivalent manner to that previously described without the interposition of a packing block. It is also evident that the brackets may be applied without alteration to rails of different weight. The operation is the same as pre viously described and may be readily followed from the drawings.

I claim:

1. iileans for resiliently supporting switch blades upon anti-frictional bearings, comprising a runner bracket formed from a llshaped blank or fiat steel plate, the shorter arm of said J-member being bent at right angles and adapted for attachment to a running rail so that its lower edge is adapted to bear downwardly upon the bottom flange thereof, and a roller bearing bracket formed from a resilient T-shaped blank of flat steel plate, the stem of said T-member being adapted for attachment to a switch blade, one arm of the top of the T-member being bent at right angles to form a cantilever roller support, and the other arm thereof being bent in the same direction and doubled back to engage beneath the switch blade.

2. Means for resiliently supporting switch blades upon anti-frictional bearings, comprising a runner bracket formed from a J-shaped blank of flat steel plate. the shorter arm of said J-member being bent at right angles to provide a lateral bearing surface for attachment to the side of a rail while its edge is adapt-ed to provide a vertical bearing surface for the rail bottom flange, and a roller bearing bracket formed from a resilient T-shaped blank of fiat steel plate, the stem of said T-member being adapted for attachment to a switch blade, one arm of the top of the T-member being bent at right angles to form a cantilever roller support, and the other arm thereof being bent in the same direction and doubled back to engage beneath the switch blade.

3. Means for resiliently supporting switch blades upon anti-frictional bearings, comprising a runner bracket formed from a I- shaped blank of flat steel plate. th shorter arm of said l-member being bentat right angles and adapted to provide a laterial bearing surface for attachment to the side of a running rail a portion of said arm being off-set so that its lower edge is adapted to bear downwardly upon the bottom flange of the rail, and. a roller bearingbracket formed from a resilient T-shaped blank of flat steel plate the stem of said T-member being adapted for attachment to a switch blade one arm of the top of the T-member being bent right angles to form a cantilever roller support, and the other arm thereof being bent in the same direction and doubled back to engage beneath the switch blade.

LLElVELLYN VVYNN lVILLLCVlS. 

